St. Gabriel Passionist Parish Church is a 750-seat church is designed to embody the eco-theology of Passionist Father Thomas Berry and is the first worship space in Canada to achieve LEED Gold Certification for its sustainable design.
In contrast to most churches that are inward looking, St Gabriel’s Church features a large glass façade to the south overlooking a garden planted on the roof of below grade parking.
The glazing passively harnesses the winter sun’s heat and visually extends the sacred space of the worship area into the sacred space of the world beyond. The remaining three walls serve as a neutral canvas for the dynamic play of sunlight filtered through a continuous skylight incorporating coloured glass by artist David Pearl.
The worship space is organized along a sacred axis that links liturgy with landscape. At one end stands the Tabernacle, where the Eucharist is reserved — the sacramental presence of Christ at the heart of Catholic worship. At the other, a living garden unfolds beyond a wall of glass, expressing the immanent presence of the divine in creation.
Along this axis are placed the altar, the ambo (pulpit), and the baptismal font, each reclaimed from the former church and transformed to reflect its new context. Sufficient space was left between the altar and ambo to emphasize that receiving the Word of God invites worshipers to participate in the eucharistic meal.
The original marble baptismal font was transformed to flow with “living water” and link the imagery of the roof scupper at the constructed wetland outdoors. While contemporary liturgical practice often places the font near the entrance to the worship space, here it is uniquely positioned in front of the window overlooking the garden. In this way, baptism is understood not only as entry into the Christian faith community, but also as a welcome into the wider Earth community — a reminder that spiritual rebirth is restoration of creation itself.
A view along the sacred axis towards the garden (photography by Martin Knowles)
Too often, a new church means a large asphalt parking lot. St. Gabriel’s church reduced its ecological footprint from the usual six acres required for a suburban church by two-thirds to just two acres by locating 75% of the required vehicle parking underground. This also had the added benefit of freeing up over 50% of the site (including a significant, extensive green roof above the underground parking) for soft landscaping that incorporates a guided meditation walk, seating, and food production for pollinators, wildlife habitat, and a downtown homeless shelter using a sustainable “Hugelkulture” method of cultivation. Much of the reduced surface parking area serves double duty as an outdoor piazza for seasonal social gatherings and community events.
Rather than surrounding the church with asphalt, the design restores the site as a living garden inspired by indigenous, pre-settlement ecologies.
A contemplative pathway leads visitors from the street through a sequence of outdoor “stations of the cosmos” that provide significant moments in the evolutionary story of the universe and humanity’s place within it.
The grounds themselves proclaim that the earth is a gift to be lovingly tended and not a commodity to be covered.
At St. Gabriel’s, environmental performance was not treated as a technical overlay but as a spiritual responsibility. As the pastor reflected at the time, “While reducing energy costs was one of the reasons for building a ‘green’ church, our primary motivation was to establish a link between the sacredness of the gathered community and the sacredness of the Earth.” This vision resulted in St. Gabriel’s Parish becoming Canada’s first LEED Gold–certified church and Toronto’s first LEED Gold building at its time of completion in 2006.
Triple-glazed high-performance windows work together with the building’s orientation and deep roof overhangs, carefully calibrated to provide shade in the summer while allowing low winter sunlight to warm the interior. Exterior insulated thermal mass helps reduce heat loss, while daylighting strategies and energy-efficient systems minimize reliance on fossil fuels. One of the first flywheel heat exchangers used in a church setting tempers incoming fresh air, and CO₂ sensors further reduce ventilation loads when the building is lightly occupied.
The landscape design extends this ethic of care. Trickle irrigation systems supported the initial establishment of plant material, managed by a smart monitoring device connected to Environment Canada data that automatically shuts the system down during rain events.
Rainwater from the roof is directed into a constructed wetland, where plants visibly respond to cycles of abundance and drought — a quiet yet powerful witness to both the fragility and the sacred value of water.
David Pearl, a glass artist, collaborated with the team to create coloured glass panels integrated into the perimeter skylights that wrap the remaining three walls. Positioned above exposed concrete surfaces, these skylights form a contemplative backdrop for the dynamic play of daylight. The ceiling, held slightly apart from the walls, appears to hover weightlessly over the congregation, heightening the sense of openness and light.
The coloured light of the perimeter skylight gives the worshipping faith community a sense that the cosmos is embracing the liturgical environment and actively participating in the ritual action of the liturgy. As light shifts with time, season, and weather, the worship space becomes a living environment — a gentle, ever-changing reminder that worship takes place within the wider, sacred rhythms of Earth and sky.
Coloured light from the perimeter skylights (photography: Vedad Haghigi)
Coloured light from the perimeter skylights (photography: Vedad Haghigi)
Narthex doors (photography: Steven Evans)
View in Narthex (photography: Steven Evans)